Crash will not affect Hyderabad air show: Minister
By IANSTuesday, March 2, 2010
HYDERABAD - Terming the crash of a naval aircraft here during an international civil aviation exhibition as “unfortunate”, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Wednesday said the tragedy will not affect the event in any way.
“These kinds of mishaps have happened during such events in the past the world over. It is very unfortunate but I don’t think this (aircraft crash) will any way hamper or effect the event,” the minister told IANS.
Commander S.K. Maurya, 39, and Lt. Commander Rahul Nair, 34, died when their HJT-16 Kiran Mk II trainer crashed shortly before noon in the thickly populated Bowenpally locality near the old Begumpet Airport in the city’s heart.
According to a civil aviation ministry official, there were five such crashes during air shows in the world last year. Similarly, there were four such crashes during air shows in 2008 and seven in 2007.
The IAF’s Suryakiran Aerial Display Team (SKAT), which also flies the Kiran Mk-II aircraft crashed Jan 21 this year, killing the pilot.
Another Surya Kiran aircraft crashed March 18, 2006, near its home base in Bidar in Karnataka during a training sortie killing two pilots.
